ABOUT CCMAU

What we do

The New Zealand Government has a significant investment in a number of Crown companies.

CCMAU was established in 1993 to provide high-quality advice to shareholding Ministers on company performance and to recommend qualified persons to sit on the boards of these companies.

CCMAU provides advice in the following areas:

• Monitoring – reporting on company business plans, performance against targets, and sectoral trends.
• Ownership – advising on strategic issues, investment and diversification opportunities, and the impact of government policy.
• Governance and appointments – identifying and screening potential directors, managing the appointments process, and promoting corporate governance best practice -
• Ministerial servicing – managing issues and drafting replies to correspondence, parliamentary questions, and requests under the Official Information Act 1982.

Different roles of CCMAU and the Treasury

CCMAU is attached administratively to the Treasury but is an operationally independent unit.

CCMAU and the Treasury have closely related but complementary roles. Both advise shareholding Ministers on Crown company performance and ownership issues. However, the two agencies focus on different aspects of the Crown's ownership objectives. The Treasury’s approach is targeted at the Crown’s overall balance sheet and fiscal position. CCMAU primarily manages issues and focuses on performance and commercial environment and risk at a company level. CCMAU has sole responsibility for advising on board composition and performance.

Through these different sources of advice, the Government is able to make balanced decisions on its investment in Crown companies.

Funding

CCMAU receives its revenue through two votes: 

• Crown research institutes (CRIs).
• State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

CCMAU’s appropriation for 2008/09 is $3.542 million (GST exclusive).

Statement of Intent and Annual Report

CCMAU issues an annual statement of intent (SOI) that describes among other things:

• where CCMAU is heading and what it intends to do for the period ahead,
• why it has chosen to do those things,
• CCMAU’s organisational capability to implement the chosen strategies.

CCMAU’s SOI is included within the Treasury’s SOI.

CCMAU does not produce its own annual report. However, a section on CCMAU is included in the Treasury’s annual report.

Legislation

CCMAU does not administer any legislation. CCMAU is subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 1993.

The following acts are of importance to the companies that CCMAU monitors:

• Companies Act 1993,
• State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986,
• Crown Research Institutes Act 1992,
• Crown Entities Act 2004.

These acts can be viewed free of charge at http://www.legislation.govt.nz (opens in a new window).